It is a common practice in many regions where subfreezing conditions occur to apply solutions to roadways, runways, and the like that facilitate melting and/or removal of snow and ice. For instance, highway snow and ice control is typically carried out by governmental entities utilizing plows to remove snow and ice and/or sanders that apply particulates to roadways. In the latter regard, such particulate may be a mixture of sand and/or salts (e.g., sodium chloride, calcium magnesium acetate (CMA)), which may melt snow/ice on a roadway. While CMA is sometimes used, rock salt is the most commonly utilized deicer. In such arrangements, a mixture of sand and salt granules may be spread onto a roadway.
In addition to solid application, it has also been recognized that the application of liquid deicers provide significant benefits. For instance, it has been recognized that application of liquid deicers may more readily melt ice formed on a surface or the application of liquid deicer prior to the accumulation of snow or ice may reduce the adhesion of the snow and ice to the surface and thereby improve removal of the same and/or limit the buildup thereof. Further, if properly applied, the application of a liquid deicer can prevent road surfaces from freezing in the first place.
Such liquid deicing solutions may generally be created by directing a liquid solvent (e.g., water) through an amount of a chemical to be dissolved, such as rock salt or CMA, to produce a highly concentrated or saturated solution. For instance, it has been found that a solution of approximately 23.3% NACL by weight in water is an efficient solution for removing ice and snow. At this salinity level, the solution will melt ice and snow with ambient temperatures as low as about −11° Fahrenheit.
In highway maintenance applications, large quantity of such salt brine may be required to adequately cover multiple streets, highways, etc. Accordingly, most highway maintenance crews typically prepare and store salt brine for application. That is, most highway maintenance crews have stores of solid salts or CMA pellets they dissolve into water to generate ‘brine solutions.’ As will be appreciated, it may also be necessary to produce such brine solutions to augment or replace the solution as it is utilized. Accordingly, many such entities have brine producing devices at their facility.
Various brine producing devices have been proposed. A number of these devices produce a brine solution by directing water through a columnar container holding salt or CMA pellets where water enters at the bottom of the container (e.g., salt hopper) and overflows through an outlet at the top of the container. In such an arrangement, prior to being removed from the top of the container, the liquid may be recirculated to achieve a desired salinity. Other brine producing devices introduce water at the top of a container/hopper holding salt or chemical pellets and allow the water to drain through the container. Again, this solution may be recirculated to achieve desired salinity. The resulting brine is collected and typically pumped into a holding tank.
While the process for generating such brines is straightforward, a number of difficulties exist in the actual implementation of this process. One particular problem lies in the amount of sediment that is included with raw salts. That is, commercial rock salt can be quite dirty and may include significant percentages (e.g., 10% or more) of sediment/dirt. This sediment and dirt collects in the salt hopper. Accordingly, it is necessary to periodically clean the brine making apparatus. However, cleaning of these apparatuses has heretofore been a labor-intensive process. In many brine apparatus designs, an operator may have to climb into the hopper itself and physically remove the sediment. Other arrangements have allowed for removing and dumping the hopper. Due to these difficulties, crews often fail to clean or adequately clean these devices. This can result in various fluid inlets or outlets becoming plugged by either sediment or solidified brine (i.e., salt cake). Accordingly, these devices may not be readily available when needed.